Francis Beeding biography

Hilary Aidan Saint George Saunders (1898 - 1951) was a British author. Saunders was born in Clifton, near Bristol.
Saunders went by several noms-de-plume: "Francis Beeding" (writing in tandem with John Palmer), "Barum Browne" (with Geoffrey Dennis), "Cornelius Cofyn" (with John deVere Loder), "David Pilgrim" (with John Palmer), and "John Somers" (with John Palmer).
A chronicler of World War II and biographer of Robert Baden-Powell, Saunders was Librarian of the House of Commons Library from 1946-1950, when he retired because of ill health.
Saunders became known during World War II for his books and pamphlets, The Battle of Britain, Bomber Command, Coastal Command, etc., which he wrote officially and anonymously for the Government, and subsequently for the Red Beret and Green Beret. The Sleeping Bacchus is his scarce first and only novel, the story of an art robbery. Saunders was also a postWar commentator on the Scouting movements during World War II, chronicled in The Left Handshake, written in 1948.